Conference Proceedings
Key Note: Professor Dave Goulson
Talk outline:
Bees and other pollinators are vital to our wellbeing: about one third of all the food we eat depends on the pollination services they provide. More broadly, natural ecosystems depend upon pollination: without it, most flowering plants would disappear and ecosystems would collapse. Hence we should be concerned that wild bees are in decline, with some species of bee having gone extinct. Dave Goulson will explain the various reasons why they are declining, which include loss of flowers from the countryside, our accidental spreading of bee diseases, and our overuse of pesticides such as neonicotinoids. He will then discuss the many ways that we can all help to ensure that all types of bees have a future.
About Professor Goulson:
Professor Dave Goulson was brought up in rural Shropshire, where he developed an early obsession with wildlife. He received his bachelor’s degree in biology from Oxford University, followed by a doctorate on butterfly ecology at Oxford Brookes University. Subsequently, he lectured in biology for 11 years at the University of Southampton, and it was here that he began to study bumblebees in earnest. He subsequently moved to Stirling University in 2006, and then to Sussex in 2013. He has published more than 240 scientific articles on the ecology and conservation of bumblebees and other insects. He is the author of Bumblebees; Their Behaviour, Ecology and Conservation, published in 2010 by Oxford University Press, and of the Sunday Times bestseller A Sting in the Tale, a popular science book about bumble bees, published in 2013 by Jonathan Cape, and now translated into German, Dutch, Swedish, Korean, Chinese and Danish. This was followed by A Buzz in the Meadow in 2014.
Goulson founded the Bumblebee Conservation Trust in 2006, a charity which has grown to 8,000 members. He was the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council’s Social Innovator of the Year in 2010, was given the Zoological Society of London’s Marsh Award for Conservation Biology in 2013, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2013, and given the British Ecological Society Public Engagement Award in 2014. In 2015 he was named number 8 in BBC Wildlife Magazine’s list of the top 50 most influential people in conservation.
SESSION 1
The impact ofimpatiens glandulifera(himalayan balsam) on the pollination of native plant species in the UK
Laura White - University of Portsmouth
Additional Authors: Mr George Horn, Dr Rocio Perez-Barrales
Biological plant invasions have devastating effects on the biodiversity of wildlife. Management of invasive species can be costly, with 900 ‘alien’ plant taxa in the UK since 2000. An in-depth understanding of invasive species and what native ecological processes they disturb can help management and control an invader’s spread.
The invader speciesImpatiens glandulifera (Himalayan Balsam) was introduced to Britain in 1839 and is now well established in natural environments, and often becoming the dominant species. In the present study, we aimed at studying the impact of I. glandulifera on the pollination ecology of native species, with focus onStachys sylvatica. Specifically, we firstly observed bee visitation and pollen load on the stigmas in pristine and invaded localities. Secondly, in a pristine site,I. glanduliferawas introduced to study the initial period of a biological invasion on pollination services.
The visitation rate to I.glanduliferawas found not to be in direct competition with native species, and even facilitated visits. In contrast, the pollen load from native species carried by bumblebees decreased in the presence of the invader. The probability of invasive pollen transferred varied depending on the pollination syndrome apparent; where pollen was placed on insects and specialisation of bumblebees’ fit with native and invasive flower morphology.
We found that the probability of finding conspecific pollen on the stigmas of S. sylvatica decrease up to 80% after the introduction of Himalayan balsam. In contrast, the probability of observing pollen of Himalayan balsam on S. sylvatica stigmas was low. These results suggest that the invader had a negative impact on pollen transfer to S. sylvatica stigmas, resulting in decreased female fitness. This study highlights how biological invasions can modify the function of natural environments by changing insect behaviour and disrupting the pollination of native flowering species.
Turf lifting, seed sowing and natural regeneration: a comparison of techniques for chalk grassland restoration in the South Downs National Park
Ted Chapman - Birkbeck College, University of London. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Additional Authors: Stephanie Miles, Kate Hardwick
This study compared the effectiveness of three commonly used techniques – turf lifting, seed-sowing and natural regeneration – in the restoration of chalk grassland destroyed by the construction of a water pipeline at Crane Down.
The work was undertaken to bring a practical evidence base to a wider partnership between the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and South East Water, who own the site at Crane Down, and forming part of each organisation’s contribution to the South Downs Way Ahead Nature Improvement Area (NIA).
A replicated trial of the three techniques was established at Crane Down to answer three research questions:
- Is turf lifting and reinstatement more effective than seed sowing or natural regeneration?
- Is seed sowing more effective than natural regeneration?
- Do differences in the effectiveness of the treatments reduce over time?
Baseline vegetation surveys of the undisturbed site were carried out in summer 2013. Seed from the site was brush harvested, processed and stored at the Millennium Seed Bank, whilst turf was lifted and stored on-site by a local agricultural contractor. Following construction of the pipeline, experimental plots were laid out in three replicate blocks, with seed sown and turf re-laid in spring 2014. Untreated plots of bare soil were left to act as a control and evaluate the effectiveness of natural regeneration from the soil seed bank and seed rain.
Early results found that turf lifting and reinstatement was significantly more effective than seed sowing or natural regeneration in the short term, retaining most of the undisturbed chalk grassland community and severely limiting opportunities for colonisation by non-characteristic species. It is shown to be an effective if labour-intensive technique for sites of high conservation value. Seed sowing and natural regeneration plots, by contrast, recorded high levels of colonisation by non-characteristic species from the soil seed bank, with very similar results for both treatments.
The study was also an opportunity to refine and demonstrate techniques for turf translocation and bulk seed harvesting on chalk grassland, building local capacity to undertake this specialist work. In time it is hoped the research will enable a cost-benefit analysis of the different treatments to inform practicable, effective restoration following infrastructure developments in the National Park.
SESSION 2
Using Google Earth to map erosion in the Western Rother valley
Professor John Boardman - University of Oxford
Google EarthTMhas been used in several geomorphological contexts, especially in the study of river networks, glacial, coastal, landslides and desert landforms. In some cases, quantification is possible and landform-process relations can be inferred. GE has been little used in studies of contemporary soil erosion. This brief case study of its use in the Western Rother valley illustrates the potential for quick, free and accurate surveys that are particularly valuable as an aid to field work. The main drawback of GE is the arbitrary timing of imagery, in this case with only 3 years of complete coverage of the study area between 2001 and 2015.
Geomorphological change detection in Telscombe cliffs using high resolution photogrammetry from an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
Ignacio Eduardo Ibarra Cofre - University of Sussex
Additional Authors: Dr John Barlow, Dr Roger Moore, Dr Jamie Gilham
The coastal systems of England have been historically exposed to coastline retreat, cliff instability and landslide processes. Under this scenario, it is important to understand the activity patterns, erosion and evolution of coastal cliffs through accurate descriptions of morphological changes, as it is a required stage in mitigating cliff instability hazards. Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) or drones are new types of aerial platforms from which high-resolution remote sensing measurements of landform features and processes can be obtained. Here, geomorphological feature detection in Telscombe cliffs, East Sussex, is analysed using high resolution digital photogrammetry from an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. The study area encompasses 712 m of unprotected cliffs, which have a near-vertical slope profile and a maximum altitude of 49 m. Morphological monitoring between consecutive surveys is used to map rock mass discontinuities, quantify failure volumes and to get monthly volumetric inventories of rockfalls. The overall technique for data collection involved installation of a Nikon D810 digital camera on board an octocopter. Ground control for the survey was conducted using a combination of dGPS and total station surveying to produce a network of Ground Control Points (GCPs) on the cliff face and shore platform. Linking GCPs and a Bundle Adjustment numerical method, the digital photogrammetry image processing was undertaken in 3DM Analyst Mine Mapping Suite software. From 37,000,000 processed 3D points, a merged terrain model consisting of 138 individual Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) was obtained with a computed image accuracy of 0.79 pixels. Preliminary results show different sequences of discontinuities, most represented by closely spaced bedding planes (flint bands) and steeply conjugate sets of joints, which control modes of slope failure. The model’s resolution was able to identify a fault dipping at 76°, and dissolution pipes along the cliff’s top. In addition, Notches and rockfalls were recognized to the NW of the study area, illustrating the influence of marine processes on this section of Telscombe’s cliff. As the first survey was 7.5 minutes of flying, the using of an UAV not only contributed to a flexible and rapid geomorphological assessment, but also to a safe and low-cost method for data collection compared with other techniques such as Terrestrial Laser Scanning or airborne LiDAR, demonstrating the utility of using UAV photogrammetry for monitoring cliff instability hazards.
Change on the fringe: environmental change at Alice Holt Research Forest
Edward Eaton - Forest Research
Additional Authors: Sue Benham, Elena Vanguelova
Alice Holt Research Forest lies in the northernmost edge of the South Downs National Park and is a major hub for research into forests in Britain. For the past 20 years, Forest Research has been monitoring the changing environment here, to improve our understanding of the extent and impacts of these changes on forests. Originally stemming from concerns over air pollution and acid rain in the 1980s, the data collected at Alice Holt now provide us with valuable insights into how climate change is affecting not only British oak trees in southern England, but also other aspects of the ecosystems around them. The data collected and the research carried out here include the changes in air pollution and atmospheric deposition, the weather, and the soils under the forest, and how these changes are affecting the trees, the plants, and some of the wildlife, that make up Alice Holt Research Forest.
This presentation will consider how the environment of the forest has changed over the past two decades, and how the forest and its various components have responded to these changes. Furthermore, as Alice Holt Research Forest is part of British and European networks looking at environmental change, it is possible to think about how this part of the National Park fits into the broader landscape of environmental change across the country and the continent. Understanding what change there has been in the recent past, and how this has affected the forest in this part of the South Downs, is vital if we are to successfully and sustainably manage forests in a climate that is still changing.
SESSION 3
Battling nature to save it: outdoor adventure activities and understandings of sustainability
Dr Paul Hanna - University of Surrey
Additional Authors: IliasPaliatsos, Sarah Wijesinghe
Over the past fifty years concerns surrounding the impact of humans on the environment have been increasingly voiced (e.g. Carson, 1962). Politically such concerns have been raised on a number of occasions including WCED (1987), UNCED (1992), WSSD (2002), Rio+20 (2012) and annual climate change congress meetings (IPCC, 2014). However human impact on the environment is still increasing (FreudenburgMuselli, 2013; IPCC, 2013). This paper attempts to tease out some of the conflicting arguments surrounding outdoor adventure activities (e.g. mountain biking, rock climbing) to explore the possibility for such activities to be considered as ways to encourage more sustainable ways of living.
Research has traditionally examined outdoor adventure activities through a lens that either highlights their negative environmental impacts, or has sought to conceptualise motivations and/or experiences (e.g. risk, thrill). However, through a multidisciplinary investigation into re-connecting with nature via outdoor adventure activities, a significant and growing pastime in the UK (Hay, 2013), this paper will examine if such activities facilitate a greater understanding for and appreciation of nature, and if they encourage more sustainable practices in the ‘everyday’. In the paper we argue that through practices that are not explicitly ‘sustainable’ or ‘ethical’ there is the possibility to think differently about human-nature relationships and pro-environmentalism.
In this paper we draw on data from two projects looking in to the ways in which people understand and experience outdoor adventure activities. In the analysis of the data we make the argument that whilst outdoor adventure activities have an immediate negative environmental impact, they can be understood as the vehicle for broader reconnections to nature, offering the potential for more sustainable behaviours in the ‘everyday’ practices of the participant. Thus we conclude with the suggestion that spaces such as the South Downs National Park have the potential to offer practical and achievable solutions to engage more individuals in everyday sustainable practices through active participation with natural environments.
What community stories can tell us about changing drainage management approaches in the River Adur catchment
Dr Mary Gearey - University of Brighton
Introduction
The integrity of renewable freshwater resources is critical for the sustainable development of economies and societies. However, to add to existing complexity, waterenvironments will face a further range of acute challenges over the next twenty five years resulting from rising population hubs, factors associated with climate change, riverine water quality issues and changing land management practices. One of the recent debates in land management policy is the shift in emphasis regarding responsibility for rural drainage. Although it has always been the responsibility of land owners to adequately manage the impacts of water on their land there has existed for many years a sympathetic relationship between land owners and the Environment Agency (EA). Over time this has evolved into an expectation, certainly within the River Adur catchment, that the EA can and should continue with clearance of smaller watercourses. The EA have now restated that these additional works are no longer viable for them due to a wide range of resource and policy factors. With rising anxiety about flooding events this restatement of legal responsibility combines to potentially change the way in which the EA and landowners interface with each other.
Main aim of the project
The data discussed in this paper are drawn from a wider piece of research recently undertaken by the University of Brighton around community understandings and perceptions of changing water conditions orientated around the concept of resilience. As part of that project, in which respondents from the mid catchment communities of Steyning, Bramber and Upper Beeding were asked to discuss their interests and concerns around local water resources management issues, narratives around land drainage and its impact on watercourses emerged across a range of interest groups.
Study and methods used
The study, undertaken between September 2015 and February 2016, involved semi-structured qualitative individual and group interviews with respondents living and working alongside the River Adur catchment.
Main outcomes and their implications.
- The stories provided by the community tell historically of a joint endeavour between land owners and the EA to keep watercourses flowing.
- Over time this has lead to an expectation that it is the EA’s responsibility to help transition water from smaller watercourses to the river.
- Consequently the restatement of legal responsibilities by the EA is perceived as a retraction of support.
- This is framed within a narrative of reducing government assistance against a rising anxiety concerning flooding, heavier rainfall events and the implicit costs of individualising drainage management.
One key implication is that these community stories tells us that the push to create ‘resilient communities’ is viewed as a way of obscuring the reality that the government is no longer willing to financially support the local impacts of climate change and unsustainable land management practices, particularly around run off from housing developments.
Dartmoor Farming Futures – An Evaluation of an Outcome Focused Approach to Agri-Environment Schemes
Jennifer Manning - Dartmoor National Park Authority
Dartmoor Farming Futures (DFF) is a pioneering scheme to get farmers and commoners more engaged in the design, delivery and monitoring of environmental outcomes through agri-environment agreements. The initiative was developed by Dartmoor National Park Authority and Dartmoor Commoners’ Council, with support from the Duchy of Cornwall, Natural England, RSPB and South West Water.
DFF links into and complements the Dartmoor Vision, which sets out what the moorland will look like in 2030. It is focused on two areas of common land within the National Park: (i) Haytor and Bagtor Commons; and (ii) the Forest of Dartmoor. The pilot is now in its sixth year and has been subject to a longitudinal evaluation through two qualitative studies. The first study was completed in 2013 and focused on evaluating the impact of getting farmers engaged in agreeing an agri-environment agreement focused on environmental outcomes. The second study has focused on the impact of the agreements on farmer behaviours, perceptions and farm businesses. It has involved face to face semi structured interviews with farmers/commoners from the two pilot areas, including those involved with Dartmoor Farming Futures and those with little or no involvement. Further interviews were held with key stakeholders involved in the project to gain an understanding of their attitudes towards the approach.